Inside - First Catholic Slovak Union

PAGE JEDNOTA, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, 2010
Insights and Viewpoints
Should the Slovak Nation Honour Tomáš G. Masaryk
By Stanislav J. Kirschbaum, FRSC
The Canadian-Slovak weekly, Kanadský Slovák, recently published a letter expressing
opposition to the decision by the mayor of Bratislava to erect a statue in front of the Slovak
National Museum in Bratislava commemorating Tomáš G. Masaryk, the first President
of Czecho-Slovakia. It is one of many open protests published in Slovakia. The decision
launched a debate that centers on the question whether Masaryk should be recognized
as a major personality in Slovak history that deserves to be thus commemorated. It is a
question worth closer examination.
There are two issues at stake: First of all, whether any official personality from the
defunct Czecho-Slovak Republic should be commemorated in this way in Slovakia Secondly,
whether Tomáš G. Masaryk, as its founder, has in fact played a role significant
enough in Slovak history to entitle him to more than an appropriate mention in history
books
The answer to the first question is best given from a comparative point of view. Until the
twentieth century and even for the better part of it, the Slovak nation lived in cohabitation
with one or more nations in one state. The Slovaks lived in the Hungarian Kingdom for
over a thousand years, contributed to its development, but were also subjected to assimilatory
policies that in the end pushed them to leave the kingdom and find a way to govern
themselves. The Magyarization of the Slovaks marked the nineteenth century but up to
that point, although there were clashes, Slovak–Hungarian relations were such that both
nations benefited from them. Apart from the castles and residences throughout Slovakia
that the Hungarian magnates built, there is only one statue that bespeaks of the Slovak-
Hungarian period, the one in Košice of František Rakoci (Ferenc Rakoczi) II, župan of
Šariš county, leader of the last of the magnate rebellions. There is no existing statue of
St. Stephen, the first Hungarian King and founder of the kingdom. However, since 2009,
Slovakia’s Hungarians in Komárno have been collecting funds to erect one there. It will be
interesting to see whether this happens.
Czechoslovakia – the other state in which the Slovaks cohabited with another nation,
the Czechs – broke up on 31 December 1992. It had existed for a total of 68 years (1918-
1939 and 1945-1992). It was a country that, like Hungary, gave much to the Slovaks, yet
they never became the equal partners they had hoped to be when they joined. In 1918,
Andrej Hlinka spoke of the Slovak-Hungarian relationship as a “thousand year marriage;”
the Czech-Slovak one was a 74-year marriage with a 6-year separation. There are vestiges
of the Czechoslovak past in Slovakia, for example the former presidential summer
residence in Topoľčianky and the column with the Czech lion on top in front of the Slovak
National Museum in Bratislava. The statue to Masaryk is to replace it.
Slovakia has erected over the years statues to honour historical personalities, but generally
Slovak ones. Trnava has a statue of General Milan Rastislav Štefánik and one of
Anton Bernolák. The city of Žilina has a number of statues in its main square and Nitra
has one of SS Cyril and Methodius. There are many more examples throughout Slovakia.
And they all point to the fact that the Slovaks prefer to celebrate their own personalities,
rather than those who were not Slovak, however important their role in Slovak history. It
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Reflections on Our Christianity
continued from page 2
Then he put them all out.” (vss. 39 – 40). He said to the twelve year old, “Little girl, get up.”
(vs. 41) “He enjoined them strictly not to let anyone know about it, and told them to give her
something to eat.” (vs. 43)
“Who touched my clothing” (Mark 5:30)
“Please, Lord,” she replied. “even the dogs under the table eat the family’s leavings.
Then he said to her, “For such a reply, be off now! The demon has already left your daughter.”
(Mark 7:28-29)
“Then he began to be filled with fear and distress. He said to them, ‘My heart is filled with
sorrow to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake.’ He advanced a little and fell to
the ground….” (Mark 14:34-35)
His disciples were critical of him.
“They finally woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, does it not matter to you that we are
going to drown’.” (Mark 4:38)
“Are we to go and spend two hundred days’ wages for bread to feed them” (Mark 6:37)
“His disciples said to him, ‘You can se how this crowd hems you in, yet you ask, ‘Who
touched me’” (Mark 5:31)
“Hear me, all of you, and try to understand. Nothing that enters a man from the outside
can make him impure; that which comes out of him, and only that, constitutes impurity. Let
everyone heed what he hears.” (Mark 7:14-16)
“His disciples replied, ‘How can anyone give these people sufficient bread in his deserted
spot” (Mark 8:4) Then, Jesus asked them how many loaves they had and they replied,
“seven.” (Mark 8:5)
“Peter then took him aside and began to remonstrate with him. At this, he turned around
and, eyeing the disciples reprimanded Peter: ‘Get out of my sight, you Satan! You are not
judging by God’s standards but by man’s’!” (Mark 8:32-33)
For your meditation, place yourselves personally in each of these scenes.
is also interesting to note that statues imposed on them were destroyed: in 1921 that of
Empress Maria Theresa and in 1990 that of Klement Gottwald, both in Bratislava. One
exception is the statue of Masaryk that once stood in Nitra; it is found today in the former
presidential residence in Topoľčianky. Clearly, the Slovaks have a tradition of choosing
only Slovak personalities.
Did Masaryk play a role in Slovak history that warrants honouring him in the same way
as Slovak personalities It is said that he was half Slovak (his mother) and yet his entire
political life was devoted to the Czech nation. He was indeed the founder of the common
state of the Czechs and Slovaks, but he also believed that this state would forge in time
one nation, the Czechoslovak nation, essentially bringing about the assimilation of the
Slovak nation into the Czech. It is, therefore, very difficult to conclude anything other than
that he did not have an appropriate appreciation of the Slovaks and their history. Had he
had a realistic picture and, above all, acted accordingly, the Slovaks would not have twice
left the state that he founded, in March 1939 and again in December 1992 St. Stephen’s
kingdom existed for a thousand years: Masaryk’s state first broke up within one generation.
Such a record hardly warrants a statue in Slovakia.
Slovakia faces in the next few decades many challenges of an economic, social, and
political nature. To understand their past is one of them, given the repeated distortions of
history to which the Slovaks were subjected throughout the twentieth century. Slovakia’s
political elite and, indeed, its population, will not be served by a focus on a state that no
longer exists and by analyses that fail to explain what brought the Slovaks to point where
they are today. The fate of the Slovaks has always been in their own hands, however
much or little others helped. Now, it is more so that ever before. I do not think that a statue
commemorating Masaryk would bring that point home.
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Branch 89 Museum Outing in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
The Knights of St. Mary & Joseph Branch 89 will have an outing to the Milwaukee Public Museum
on Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 1:00PM sharp to see the Dead Sea Scrolls and The Bible Exhibition.
This is a timed entry, so attendees need to be there at 12:30 so the group can go into the exhibit at
the scheduled hour (1:00PM).
Tickets must be purchased in advance for groups, so you must make an advanced reservation to
attend this event by April 7, 2010. Please call President Michael Novak at 414-445-5382 to reserve
your spot.
Tickets for members are free; guests are welcome but must pay the face value of the ticket, or $26
per attendee. Make checks payable to: Knights of St. Mary & Joseph Branch 89. Mail checks to: Mike
Novak, 3237 N. 93rd Street, Milwaukee, WI 53222.
Mike Novak, President
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First Catholic Slovak Union, Attention “JEDNOTA”
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